​Kindergarten politics: The juvenilia of the G7

Patrick L Young is CEO of niche crowdfunding platform HanzaTrade and an advisor to fund managers throughout the world. Born in Ireland, he is an active investor in the “New Europe” amongst other emerging markets and is an active Co Founder of grassroots startup group "Mission ToRun."
Home Page: http://patricklyoung.net Twitter: @FrontierFinance

We’ve all been there, sitting in the playground and when it comes
to somebody’s birthday party, unprecedented kindergarten power is
vested in the hands of the 7 year-old. There is a wondrous flurry
of power distributing invitations across a packed playground and
happy recipients excitedly rip open the envelopes to discern the
wondrous party venue.

Then again the ultimate flourish of kindergarten power is the
snub: having wandered through the playground dispensing party
largesse, the upcoming birthday boy turns to the assembled
multitude and publicly snubs another pupil with those cruel
words: “you’re not invited.”

The G7 having once been headed for Sochi as its modern
incarnation the G8 has undergone a deflationary move. Instead of
pulsating revitalized Sochi, a western rump plus Japan are
meeting in Brussels - at least it is handy for those
“silent” G7/G8 members the EU’s various Presidents.

The G8 has been (temporarily) reduced from 8 to 7 members driven
by the deteriorating Ukrainian situation. Meanwhile, the
"basketballer" in chief has prattled on for weeks
advocating the need for dialogue to resolve the increasing
problems in Ukraine since the western attempts to encourage the
Maidan demonstrators with (unfulfilled) offers of EU milk and
honey have spiraled out of control. Surely we need to have all
parties represented particularly Russia, given that Ukraine is
its neighbor with a very significant Russian minority population?
Helicopter government from Washington rarely succeeds after all.
Instead the White House stresses the need for dialogue and calm,
and then supports Russian exclusion from the G8. This is
confusing to the point of oxymoron, to say the least. At the same
time, the foreign policy of Barack Obama is based, as we all
recall, on a massive pivot east - this is clearly why he was out
and about in Warsaw this week promising to spend other people’s
money on bolstering European defence. The sad truth is that Mr
Obama remains an embarrassment as President with an entirely
incontinent foreign policy and an outmoded, parochial
understanding of the world.

Meanwhile the apparent strength of the G7 decision to disinvite
Russia and move the summit is hardly driven by strength. Rather,
the USA is keen to impose all manner of sanctions on Russia which
will barely touch US corporations. Unsurprisingly, the Europeans
who have the lion’s share of trade with Russia are reluctant to
comply. Thus the G7 meeting in Brussels in many ways demonstrates
the weakness of the west, not its unity. Behind closed doors, Mr
Obama is left (largely fruitlessly) pursuing his unilateral
agenda which appears to be more rooted in his love for JFK’s
Camelot of 50 years ago than realpolitik of the digital world.

Thus France is unwilling to stop exporting its ships to the
Russian navy because, let’s face it, President Hollande needs a
miracle to be re-elected and sacking thousands in shipyards will
seal his fate. Even the allegedly strongest leader in Europe, Mrs
Merkel, is under unprecedented attack from her backbenchers who
are desperate to see Germany’s economic output continuing to
reach consumers throughout Russia. Italy is utterly apathetic
about the concept of sanctions while Japan has been toeing the
western club line but behind the scenes is clearly keen to
enhance trade links with Russia, as they need to maintain a
plural relationship with a nation whose recent gas deal with China has
demonstrated that the real pivot is Russia to the east.

...And there’s the rub. President Obama is pushing a really
successful eastern pivot strategy; the tricky bit is it’s helping
Russia make the pivot while the USA remains stuck in foreign
policy limbo. Meanwhile behind closed doors western governments
are still bristling about the extent of NSA spying on America’s,
er, allies.

On Friday 6th June, many world leaders will celebrate the 70th
anniversary of the D-Day landings which helped accelerate the end
of World War II. Mr Putin is in great demand for meetings with
western leaders. Thank goodness they are keeping the dialogue
going across the continent that begins in Europe and ends in
Asia. That the USA has abrogated its responsibility to be a world
leader by playing manipulative narrow minded politics for its own
ends, may yet prove a sad epitaph on the dithering, dismal
presidency of Mr Obama. World power shifted east under his watch
but he was not part of the pivot.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.